Holocene Environment of far-east Siberia

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Bernhard Diekmann; Dr. Larisa Nazarova
• Subject Area: Palaeontology ; Physical Geography
• Term: from 2015 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 272811964

The Kamchatka Peninsula and Kurile Islands are ideally situated in a very climate-sensitive setting. Climate fluctuations are driven by complex factors, such as global atmospheric circulation, ocean currents, and tectonic activities. The focus of the proposed project will be put forward on the quantitative reconstruction of climate and environmental changes in far-East Siberia during the Holocene, following a multi-proxy study of lacustrine sediment records. The focus is the application of newly developed regional chironomid-based T July and Continentality inference models (transfer functions), by merging modern North-East Siberian and West-Siberian trainings data sets, earlier developed by the first applicant. To perform the reconstructions, we propose to investigate sediment cores from three lakes in central and southern Kamchatka and four sediment cores from the central and southern Kuriles. All sites are situated along a north-south transect that follows the Kuril-Kamchatka Arc. Results of chironomid analysis will be compared with those derived from biomarkers, diatoms, pollen, and tephra analysis, performed by collaborators. Partly published records are available. The outcome of the project provides a detailed overview of Holocene environmental changes and the importance of the different ecological factors in the complex climate history of the region. In addition, the project will bring unique taxonomical and biogeographical information. It continues our previous work in the region, will provide insights into global climate drivers and teleconnections between the North Atlantic and North Pacific regions and leads to better understanding of the environmental significance of interactions of regional factors (including primarily migration of warm and cold ocean currents and catastrophic events) against the background of global natural processes in this one of the least studied region of Eurasia.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Dirk Sachse